Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Continuing my repostings of interviews for January, here's Kevin
Higgins whose next collection of poetry, The Ghost in The Lobby,
will be published in February 2014, Salmon.

Kevin
Higgins the well known Galway poet graciously agreed to be interviewed
about his journey to poetry and about the well known Poetry nights under
the Over the Edge banner.

Thanks very much for agreeing to this interview and welcome to writing.ie. Could you introduce yourself to the readers please?

I
was born in London in 1967 to Irish parents (both of whom were
originally from County Galway). We moved back to Galway (City) in 1974;
so I grew up mostly here. From the age of 15-27, I was an active member
of Militant, the predecessor to Joe Higgins’s Socialist Party, both here
in Galway and then later in London, where I was very involved in the
anti-poll tax movement in the early nineties. I was chair of the local
branch of the campaign Enfield Against The Poll Tax.

I moved back to Galway in 1994 and began writing poetry in late 1995. I’ve published three collections of poetry, ‘The Boy With No Face’ (Salmon, 2005); ‘Time Gentlemen, Please’ (Salmon, 2008) and ‘Frightening New Furniture’ (Salmon, 2010). I also have some poems in the Bloodaxe anthology, edited by Roddy Lumsden, ‘Identity Parade: New British and Irish Poets’ (2010).

With my wife, Susan Millar DuMars,
I co-organise Galway City’s literary events organisation, Over The
Edge. I teach creative writing at Galway Technical Institute, at
Westside Library locally and on the Brothers of Charity ‘Away With
Words’ programme. I facilitate a range of poetry workshops at Galway
Arts Centre, have been Writer-in-Residence at Merlin Park Hospital since
2007 and am the poetry critic of The Galway Advertiser. I am, as you can see, far too busy most of the time.

How did you first get into poetry?
The
impending world revolution I’d been hoping for had failed to
materialise and I’d come face to face with the reality that most of the
organisations on the far political left, such as the one I’d been a
member of, were/are very dodgy outfits in terms of the way they run
their affairs. 1995 was a kind of delayed ‘gap year’ for me.

I
began writing poetry in late 1995 immediately after the divorce
referendum campaign, in which I was very involved on the Yes side. I
collapsed with a terrible flu at the end of that. And that was it,
active politics was over for me from then on really. A man called Andy
Johnston had lent me a computer. I started writing on that. The poems
were terrible, of course. But I had great fun and took what I was doing
immensely seriously. Maureen Gallagher, another Galway poet, gave me a book called ‘The Penguin Book of The Beats’
for my twenty ninth birthday in April 1996. And I was away, writing
poems and reading poetry anthologies fairly voraciously too. I also
wrote a novel, a couple of plays and even a few screen plays. But it was
always the poetry I came back to.

What do you consider the highlights so far?

I would say being included in Roddy Lumsden’s anthology ‘Identity Parade: New British & Irish Poets’ (Bloodaxe, 2010). I remember buying the predecessor to that anthology ‘The New Poetry’ (Bloodaxe, 1993) just after I’d started writing. That was a big one. Having a poem published in The Irish Times
last year. Going to read in places like New York, Los Angeles, Denver,
Chicago, West Virginia, Washington DC and Athens. Athens in 2008 was
particularly magical. Having one of my poems, ‘Letter To A Full Time Revolutionary’, quoted on The Guardian website during the financial crash in 2008…

Tell us a bit about the Over the Edge and how it started?

It
was Susan’s idea; she felt that there weren’t enough reading platforms
for new writers in Galway. The Over The Edge: Open Readings in Galway
City Library have from the beginning maintained the format of three
featured readers, plus an open-mic with a limit of (usually) eight
readers reading one poem each. Susan is the ideas person, I’m the
executioner, as it were. It was a simply idea, like all the best ones.

What do you think about the perceived split in poems for the stage and for the page?

There
is a genuine issue, but most of what has been written about this is
hypocritical rubbish. There have been, and continue to be, those who
attack poetry slams and open-mics (and the poetry which emerges from
them) for no other reason than that they have personal grievances
against the organisers of said poetry slams and open-mics. There have
been those who have joined in with these attacks having themselves
competed in poetry slams repeatedly. One of the sad, little bands that
make up what might be called the ‘anti-slam party’ actually accepted the
job of judging a major poetry slam a while ago. These people make a lot
of noise but could be counted on the fingers of one hand, with some
spare fingers left over. They are not to be taken seriously.

This
might come as a surprise to you, but I have no interest at all in
‘stage’ poetry which doesn’t also work on the page. If the work is all
performance and no interesting new metaphors, no startling little
similes, then however groovy your sunglasses are, I’d rather read The
Financial Times. The new poets who interest me most, people such as Elaine Feeney, Sarah Clancy, Mary Madec, Dave Lordan and Colm Keegan
(to name just a few) are those whose poetry works on both levels. I
think that these poets are the real new movement in contemporary Irish
poetry. In contrast, poets who don’t rigorously workshop their poems or
submit their work to magazines, but just read at open-mics and slams
always seem to me to end up producing poems that are way too long and
full of bombast and air. The literary equivalent of flatulence. They are
almost always male.

But, as I say, those poets who manage to both write well and perform well are hugely interesting to me.

What advice would you give to new writers now?

Work
on your writing, then send it out; read it to an audience any chance
you get and take any constructive feedback you get. If someone suggests a
way you can make a poem or story better, then take that advice very
seriously. If on the other hand you encounter destructive feedback, the
only purpose of which is to discourage you from writing at all, then
smile and thank the person in question but never ever listen to another
word they say. When a friend of yours wins a competition you also
entered be GENUINELY happy for them. Jealousy will destroy you, if you
let it in the door at all.

What magazines, poets, presses and/or online sites do you read regularly and recommend?

I love Magma magazine, based in London, also the Upstart.ie website, the brainchild of Kit Fryatt and co. The Irish Left Review
website is becoming an important literary outlet, which says something
about the times we’re living in. A favourite poet of mine would be Charles Simic, but I also love the Augustan poets of the 18th Century, Swift and Pope and co. In terms of presses, I have to say Salmon, but I mean it too. Jessie Lendennie does amazing work. And Bloodaxe for all the great anthologies they do.

What have you got coming up both at Over the Edge and for yourself?

I have a collection of my essays and book reviews, ‘Mentioning The War,’
coming out early next year from Salmon. Susan and I are going to do
some readings in Australia in November, which should be great.

In terms of Over The Edge, we have our first Over The Edge: Open Reading after the summer break on August 25th. Clare Pollard
is one of the readers. Very much looking forward to hearing her. That
same evening we’ll also be announcing the shortlist for this year’s Over
The Edge New Writer of The Year competition; the judge this year is Elaine Feeney.
Later on the in the Autumn we have our third annual Fiction Slam, at
which the Featured Reader (and one of the judges) will be Emer Martin. That’s always a highlight.